


µ's Music House!

by urlsweretaken



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 06:31:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3477959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/urlsweretaken/pseuds/urlsweretaken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which µ's moves into one house together. Numerous one-shots occur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Moving Mayhem

* * *

It was a beautiful morning in the Akihabara neighborhood. The sun was shining from its position in the sky, gently but brightly lighting up the streets and sidewalks. The birds were already up and about, chirping excitedly for the day set before them.

All of this was lost on Kousaka Honoka, who was still slumbering peacefully in her bed, looking for all the world like she would stay that way for the rest of the morning. However, it appeared the ominous figure poised at the foot of Honoka's bed had different plans for the leader of µ's.

"Wake up, Honoka!"

Startled from her rest, Honoka rolled over in panic, managing to somehow get her foot stuck in her blanket, and, in a series of unfortunate events, landed on the ground by her bed face-first.

Looking up from her position on the floor while rubbing her head, Honoka managed to catch one look at the imposing and terrifying look on Umi's face before Honoka hid her face in her pillow.

"Umi-chan, maybe you're being a bit too harsh on Honoka-chan...?" came the reluctant voice of Kotori, who was standing in the doorway to Honoka's room, observing the scene from a distance.

Umi glanced back at Kotori. "It's 9 in the morning, Kotori! Honoka's been sleeping for far too long! If anything, I should've woken her up and hour ago!"

"An hour ago... uwa, you're so mean, Umi-chan!" Honoka said.

"It's only natural when moving into a new house to wake up early to unpack! Especially because you went to sleep early trying to get away from the unpacking!"

"But there's so many boxes, Umi-chan! It'll take forever to unpack all of them!"

Umi turned away from Honoka, crossing her arms with an angry 'Hmph'. "That's your own fault for packing too many things, Honoka!"

Kotori made her way over to Honoka, helping her off the floor and putting Honoka's bedding back onto her bed. "Don't worry, Honoka-chan! I can help you with your unpacking! I'm already done!"

"Arigatou, Kotori-chan! You're the best!" Honoka cheered, jumping up to hug Kotori.

"Honestly, Koroti... You spoil Honoka too much." Umi said reproachfully, looking at the scene with her hands on her hips.

"Don't worry, Umi-chan! Everything will be fine!" Kotori said while Honoka was rubbing her face against Kotori's.

"Hmph... well Honoka still needs to eat breakfast! Come on, Kotori, let's leave her to get ready." Umi said, hands still on her hips while she turned and walked away from both her best friends.

Kotori checked to see if Honoka was alright one last time before leaving with Umi. Honoka slowly walked over to her new closet, yawning and rubbing her eyes while doing so. She opened her closet to pick out an outfit for the day... only to realize all her clothes were still in the boxes.

...

"I HATE MOVING!"

* * *

_Flashback- a week or so ago_

After the graduation ceremony of the third years of µ's, the entire school idol group walked to the crosswalk together, and when it looked like it was time for all the goodbyes to be said, Hanayo ruined the moment by freaking out over something on her phone. In the process of her freaking out, she brought the whole group back to the club room, where she explained her distress.

It turned out that their performance at the Love Live! had caused many professional idol companies to take interest in the school idol group. However there was one offer that caught the music group's collective eye. It was an offer from an American company that was trying to expand its horizons, by investing in a music group in Japan. Considering it had only been an e-sports team in North America before, this was quite a large step for the company. All the same the offer was too tempting for µ's to pass up.

Under the offer given by Team Solo Music, µ's would live together in one house in Akihabara for as long as the offer stood. The only thing TSM asked of µ's was to continue doing what they enjoyed, making music and performing for their fans. It was a way for µ's to stay together even after the third years graduated, while getting handsome benefits doing so.

* * *

Honoka burst into the new living room. "Good morning, world!"

"Shut up, Honoka." came Nico's reply.

"Mou, Nico-chan is so mean!" Honoka slumped to the floor, depressed.

"Nicocchi's only mad because she had to leave her comfortable spot by Maki-chan to make breakfast for you, Honoka-chan." Nozomi slyly hid her mouth behind her hand when Nico whipped her head around to glare at her, blushing all the while.

Maki was surprisingly unresponsive to Nozomi's teasing, simply continuing to read her novel while sipping her morning tea at the kitchen table.

"Rin can't blame Nico-chan, nya! Rin would be sad if she had to leave Kayo-chin right now, nya!"

The orange haired girl was currently curled up against Hanayo's side on the couch directly across the TV... or where the TV would be if it had been unpacked.

The living room was a mess at the moment, with boxes scattered everywhere and furniture left to be assembled. The kitchen, which was separated from the living room by a counter, still had boxes that also needed to be unpacked.

Looking around the room, Honoka realized just how much work there was left to be done. "Uwa... this is going to take a while."

Kotori and Umi came down the stairs behind Honoka. "Well, we have all day Honoka-chan! If we all work together, it won't be long! It might even end up being kind of fun!" Kotori's positivity shined through the dark clouds in Honoka's thoughts, cheering up the ginger haired girl immensely.

Eri finally spoke up from her position next to Nozomi at the kitchen table. "Kotori's right. As long as we don't quit, we should be able to be done with the unpacking by dinnertime."

"Yosh! Let's get to it, then!" Honoka's stomach let out a large growl. "After breakfast, of course, hehe..."

* * *

"Geez, Honoka! What do you have in these boxes?" complained Nico.

"Well, I had to bring my clothes, some stuffed animals..." replied Honoka, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

"But mostly it's her manga. Honestly, Honoka, you never learn..."

"But Umi-chan-"

"No buts, Honoka." Umi lectured, hands magically finding her hips again. "You'll have to take some of this back the next time you visit your family."

Umi was glad Kotori wasn't in the room. If she was here, she would say Umi was being too harsh on Honoka, and if Umi tried to disagree, Kotori would just give her large, teary puppy eyes and Umi's resolve would crumble in seconds. Thankfully, the taupe haired girl was off helping Rin unpack Hanayo's things, leaving Maki to deal with the antics of Nozomi and Eri (mostly Nozomi).

By noon, all of Honoka's manga was put on shelves, after being organized critically by Honoka ("Not there, Nico-chan! It has to go with the rest of the romance section!" "You just told me to alphabetize them!"). The three members of µ's walked downstairs to the kitchen to get themselves a well deserved drink, finding the rest of their friends there.

"About time." Maki said, twirling the ends of her hair. "The rest of us have been done for at least twenty minutes."

"Well, if it wasn't for this dummy-" Nico paused for a second to flick Honoka's forehead, eliciting a small yelp from the leader of µ's. "-and her books, we would've been done an hour ago."

"Let's take a break for lunch, then?" Kotori said, clapping her hands together cheerfully. A chorus of agreement came from the music group, Nico and Hanayo moving into the kitchen to prepare the meal while the rest of µ's filed out of the room to stay out of the way.

"Say, Maki-chan. How did your parents take your coming here, nya?" Rin asked of the crimson haired pianist, who was resting on a chair in the corner of the room. The other girls appeared intrigued as well.

"I never thought about it, but... Rin-chan's right! I thought Maki-chan's parents were really strict." Honoka mused aloud.

"Hm? Oh, well Papa said that as long as I wasn't distracted from my studies and I visited the hospital at least twice a week, he would be fine with it. And Mama just- ah, well, never mind what Mama said!" Maki ended with a bashful blush, looking away from the rest of the group. "The point is they were fine with it."

"And how do you feel about coming to live with us?" Hanayo asked shyly from the kitchen.

"E-eh?"

"Well... Maki-chan always seems so distant... I thought maybe Maki-chan preferred to spend her time alone?" Hanayo seemed to be shrinking into herself with every word, embarrassed at having to tell the group about her assumptions about Maki, especially since they appeared to be incorrect.

"W-well... It's not like I mind living here with you all-"

"Don't be silly! You know you wanted to live with Nico-Nico-Nii since you first saw Nico!" Nico shouted from the kitchen, striking her signature pose while somehow peeling onions at the same time ("How did she not cut herself?" Eri whispered to Nozomi. "Nicocchi just has a lot of practice cooking and distracting people at the same time, Ericchi.").

"W-what?! B-baka! As if I would want to live with you and your stupid catchphrase!" Maki's retort was embarrassed and completely unconvincing, the blush on her face not being hidden behind the hands she tried to cover it with.

* * *

"Hey guys, have you noticed the garden in the back?" Nico's shout rang out all through the house, from Eri setting up the downstairs bathroom to Kotori putting the finishing touches on her stuffed animal collection.

"We have a garden in the back?" Honoka was the first to reply, being the closest to the back door from her position cleaning out the room between the back door and downstairs bathroom.

"Well it's not so much a garden as it is a large dirt patch..." Nico said, staring out the sliding glass doors at the 'garden'. Nico was right, as the backyard consisted mostly of dirt, with a concrete walkway along the side of the house.

"That's okay! We can work on the garden together! It'll be fun planting flowers and vegetables together!" Honoka cheerfully began thinking of the future.

The window above the backyard opened. "You two know it's snowing right now, right?" Maki yelled down to her two upperclassmen on the ground floor.

"Ah... that might pose a problem." Honoka said, scratching the side of her face with a finger.

"Get back in here, Honoka! There's still a lot of boxes to open and sort out!" Umi's voice came from the room Honoka had been in.

"Mou, Umi-chan's like a slave driver..."

Nico snickered at Honoka's misfortune until a pillow fell on her. Maki leaned out the second floor window, smirking at Nico while holding two more pillows. "You still have to set up the table out there, Nico-chan!"

Nico scrunched her face up at Maki, then quickly dodged out of the way of another pillow.

* * *

"Nozomi, have you seen..." Eri's voice trailed off as she entered her best friend's room, noticing the mood.

Nozomi was holding a picture of µ's, and it appeared she had just taken it out of the box. She was smiling at the picture, small tears at the corner of her eyes.

"Nozomi?" Eri asked again. Nozomi seemed to hear this time, jumping slightly as she turned to Eri, smiling all the while.

"We've really come far... haven't we, Ericchi?"

Eri returned Nozomi's smile. "Yeah... we have."

"When µ's was born it was just the three of them. Then there were six. Then Nicocchi joined. Then..."

"Then it was us two." Eri finished.

"And then we were complete. Nine of us together..." Nozomi said, clutching the picture to her chest and standing up.

"Just like your dream." Eri said, walking up to Nozomi to embrace her.

Nozomi giggled a little. "I thought I told you it wasn't as big as a dream, Ericchi."

If nothing else, Eri thought it was so big it could only be a dream. Nozomi, who had been alone for all her life, only finding companionship in Eri herself their second year, now had a family she could stay with. After years of only having her parents for companions, Nozomi finally had people her own age she could be around. Even better, Nozomi knew that they all had the same feelings, passion and feelings stronger than those of others. And now, Nozomi, who had been living on her own for a year now, was living with these people under the same roof, making this house theirs together. There were bits and pieces of each member of µ's scattered around the house, signifying it was a home made as nine. Umi's quiver, one of Nico's special pink wristbands she wore to practices, and Rin's untouched homework for break. It was, quite literally, a dream come true for Nozomi. And Eri couldn't be happier for her best friend and "secret" love.

A crash sounded throughout the house. "HONOKA!" Footsteps thundered through the hall. "I'm sorry, Umi-chan! I didn't mean to come into Kotori's room while you were-" Another crash. "Rin-chan, are you okay?" "Of course, nya! I just tripped, that's all!" A thump this time. "Nico-chan, what are you doing?!" "Maki-chan just looked so cute in her cleaning apron!" "G-get off me!"

Of course, it wouldn't be µ's unless there was complete chaos at least once a day.

* * *

**Omake:**

Maki was packing her things into boxes when her mother came into her room. Maki, for the most part, was doing a pretty good job of hiding how excited she was to be going off to live with Nico/the rest of µ's.

"Now, Maki, I want you to promise me nothing... too serious will happen when you go to live with your friends." Maki's Mama said, making her daughter pause in her packing to tilit her head curiously while looking at her mother.

"Serious? What do you mean, Mama?" The red head questioned.

"Well... I was young once too, Maki-chan. And if I had gone to live in a house with eight other pretty girls when I was your age, I know some... undecent... things would have happened."

Maki, now blushing madly, began to furiously deny her mother's accusations. "M-mama! It's not like that! We're all just friends!"

"Are you sure? You and that girl in twintails always argue. And I know arguing is your form of showing love."

"M-mama!"

"Oh? You're blushing! Does that mean I was right?"

Maki threw herself on her bed, while covering her face and rolling around. "Mamaaaaaaaaaaaa!"


	2. The Search for a Chimney Replacement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Maki freaks out and µ's tries to help.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Nico stuck her head around the corner of the hallway leading to the back door. "What is it, Maki-chan? Did you find another one of Honoka's porn books?"

"N-Nico-chan! That wasn't porn! It was just opened to the wrong page at the wrong angle-"

Hanayo's timid voice interrupted Honoka from next to Maki. The brunette was patting the crimson haired girl on the back, trying to comfort her despite the fact that she didn't know what had brought on this terror.

"Demo... Honoka-chan... one girl had her fingers inside the other girl's-"

THUMP

"Umi-chan!" Kotori's concern for her crush shined clear through her voice. Kotori kneeled next to Umi's unconscious body, checking her for injuries. "She fainted!"

Mumbling could be heard. "Wait, she's saying something! What is it, Umi-chan?"

"Sh-sh-shameless..."

"Uwaaaaa! Please forgive me for all my sins, Umi-chan!" Honoka fell onto her hands and knees next to Umi, head drooping in shame.

Eri simply watched the scene from the stairs, facepalming and shaking her head, while Nozomi just smiled and kept on recording with her phone.

* * *

µ's was now gathered around the kitchen table, with an ice pack being held to Umi's head and a blanket draped around Maki's shoulders to help her with the shock.

"None of this would have happened if you didn't have such shameless books, Honoka..." Umi lectured the ginger haired leader of µ's.

"It's not like you and Kotori weren't doing the same thing when I walked in on you two that day..." Honoka grumbled back, leaving Umi a spluttering and blushing mess.

"Honoka-chan! It wasn't like that! Umi-chan just tripped!" Kotori replied, trying to save Umi from the embarrassment.

"Can we please get back to why Maki screamed in the first place?" Nico broke up the argument by (for once) being the voice of reason. "Nozomi, get off your phone!"

"Hm? But I need to get my SR Nicocchi. (1)" Nozomi showed her phone screen to the group. "Once I get this, my NicoMaki team will be complete!" Nozomi finished with a smile.

Rin quickly unlocked her phone and checked the rankings. "Holy crap, nya! She's at the number 2 spot on the rankings!"

"Who's number one?" Eri quickly checked. "Oh, it's Maki."

"C-can we get back to the screaming redhead, please?" Nico begged, trying to fight down a blush.

"Okay, okay." Nozomi put away her phone and put her hands on the table, looking at Maki. "What happened, Maki-chan?"

Mumbles were all that could be heard. "Please speak up, Maki-chan. We can't hear you." Hanayo said, rubbing Maki's back encouragingly.

"I said..." Maki whispered, making all the other girls lean towards her to hear. "We don't have a chimney!" Maki finished in horror.

...

"Well, if that's all, I'm going back to my work in the garden." Nico said, seeming to take this development with no trace of alarm.

"Wait, Nico-chan." Honoka stopped Nico from leaving the kitchen table. "Maki-chan, why is that such a big deal to you?"

"Because how is Santa-san supposed to visit our house if we don't have a chimney?!" Maki was clearly freaking out, trembling and clutching the blanket she was wearing tightly. "Christmas is in three days!"

"Oh. Ooooooooooh." Nico smirked. "I forgot Maki still believes Santa is-"

Nico was interrupted by Hanayo bitch-slapping her in the face to get her to shut up, while Rin jumped down to cover Nico's mouth with both hands. The rest of the group sighed in relief, thankful Maki's innocence was still intact. Maki hadn't noticed the exchange, still internally stunned.

"Don't worry, Maki-chan! We'll find some way for Santa-san to visit us, even if we don't have a chimney!" Honoka jumped onto her chair, fist pumped into the air, looking for all the world like she would actually find a way to solve this predicament.

"We still need to find a way to keep Nicocchi away from Maki-chan." Nozomi whispered to Eri, who agreed wholeheartedly, nodding quickly.

* * *

"Mmmph!"

THUMP

"Well, you shouldn't have tried to destroy Maki-chan's childhood, Nico-chan." Eri said unsympathetically, glaring at Nico, who was tied up, gagged and thrown into the downstairs side closet. The other members of µ's, minus Maki, were behind Eri, nodding with their arms crossed.

* * *

"Maybe Santa can come through the back door?"

The idol group was currently standing in the backyard, observing the snow falling onto the ground while debating the plausibility of Honoka's idea.

"No... I'm not sure Santa-san would be able to leave his sleigh in our backyard..." Maki said softly, still fairly bummed out.

"That's true..."

The group took another look at their pitiful backyard. A cry of frustration came from Honoka.

"I really wish we could do something about how it looks!" Honoka whined, aggravated by the state of the back of the µ's house.

"We'll just have to wait until spring, Honoka-chan! Then we can fix it up all we want!" Kotori told the frustrated girl cheerfully.

"It doesn't look like Rin seems to care." Eri pointed at the cat girl, who was cheerfully making a snow angel in the dirt patch, not caring that her clothes were getting muddy.

"Maybe we should see if Santa-san can come in through any of the windows?" Hanayo's shy suggestion was met with agreement from all the other girls.

* * *

"This one won't work either!" Eri's shout came from her room, where she was checking to see if her bedroom window was large enough for a... jolly old man to come through. Eri paused for a second. Now that she thought about it, she was quite relieved her bedroom window would not allow any jolly old men to come into her room. With a shudder, she turned around to close the curtains to the window.

"Wow, your room looks so different from this angle."

...

"E-EH?! NOZOMI, HOW DID YOU GET UP HERE?! I'M ON THE SECOND FLOOR!"

* * *

Maki took one look at the front door. "No." She said, shaking her head.

* * *

"No, Rin, I don't think Santa can use his sleigh to become small enough to come through the plumbing and enter the house through the toilet."

Eri realized she was the one whose room was closest to the upstairs bathroom. She shuddered once more.

* * *

"Maki-chan... I don't think we'll find a way for Santa to enter our house without a chimney..." Honoka, for once, was the first to admit defeat.

"B-but... how will I get presents under the Christmas tree this year?" Maki looked like she was going to cry.

"Ah... Are you sure we don't have a chimney?" Nozomi seemed to be in awe at something. For once, there was something she could not foresee with her cards.

Honoka turned to Nozomi. "Of course we don't have a chimney, Nozomi. What are you-"

They had a chimney. Tucked into the corner of the living room.

"WHEN DID THAT GET THERE?"

"Are you sure we haven't always had it?" asked Nico, who was lounging in one of the love seats around the coffee table in the living room.

"I'm pretty sure, Nico-chan. Maki-chan wouldn't have freaked out if she had seen the chimney, nya!" Rin said.

"How did that get there?" Nozomi asked. "Unless... Nicocchi was the only one of us who wasn't around us while we were look for a place to Santa come in..."

"D-don't be silly! How would I have possibly put a  _chimney_  in our house in that time?" Nico exclaimed, raising an eyebrow as if daring anybody to rebut her.

"That's true..."

Maki had yet to say anything, still appearing to process the fact that Santa would be able to visit her this year. She started when Nozomi suggested that Nico had somehow gotten µ's a chimney.

"Nico-chan." Nico turned to look at Maki behind her. In Maki's eyes were tears of joy, and on her lips was a bright smile directed at her senior. Violet eyes shining and a soft pink invading her cheeks, Maki moved closer to the raven haired girl.

" _Beautiful_. _"_ was the one thought that ran through Nico's mind in that moment.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Nico-chan." Maki said softly as she hugged her senior tightly, making Nico blush brightly.

"B-but I really didn't do it!"

* * *

**Omake:**

Nico did it.

After Eri had dumped Nico in the closet, Nico had immediately gotten out of her bindings and pulled out her phone.

"Hi, Leena-chan! Yes, we're all very happy with the house and we really can't thank you enough! But... you see, we're missing a chimney... Yes, today would be nice! Arigatou gozaimasu!"

Somehow, during the time the rest of µ's search, construction workers came in, cranes tore down the corner of the µ's house, a chimney was installed, and an audience chanted, "MOVE. THAT. BUS." to install the chimney.

All this was just so that Maki would be happy.

Not that Nico would ever admit to that.


	3. A very A(µ's)ing Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which µ's celebrates Christmas.

Honoka's sleep was disturbed by the sound of thundering footsteps outside her door, followed by the sound of her bedroom door being slammed open. Honoka began to sit up slowly, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Wake up, Honoka-chan! It's Christmas! It's Christmas!" A body threw itself on Honoka, jumping on the ginger haired girl in excitement, shocking her out of her post-sleep drowsiness.

Honoka quickly identified who the body belonged to once she saw their crimson hair. "M-maki-chan?!"

"Come on, Honoka! It's Christmas!" Maki all but shouted as she dragged Honoka out of bed by her hand.

"Ah, okay, okay, Maki-chan! Just let me change!"

Maki laughed as she ran out of Honoka's room, running down the stairs two at a time. The rest of µ's walked slowly behind Maki, appearing to have all been woken up in the same manner.

"Could it be... that on Christmas... Maki-chan...  _isn't_  a tsundere?" Nico said to the rest of the group.

* * *

By the time the idol group arrived in their living room, Maki was already seated next to the Christmas tree, opposite the chimney that Nico  _didn't_  put there. It was kind of freaky for all of µ's to see the normally cool and collected pianist so excited about something.

"Hurry, hurry! Santa's already come! I even saw him when he came this morning!" Maki was beside herself with thrill over finally seeing the figure who had been giving her presents for years.

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Wait. You  _actually_ saw Santa?" µ's, minus Maki, whipped their heads to glare at Nico, giving her a warning look that very clearly said, "Mess up. I dare you."

Paling as she remembered the moments she had spent in the closet, Nico rushed to correct herself. "I-I mean... doesn't he usually go through a lot of trouble to not be seen when delivering presents?" She sighed quietly in relief when she saw the other girls turn away, letting her off the hook for the moment (but not before Rin gave Nico the "I'm watching you" hand signal).

"I guess he was just in a rush this year! Maybe because there are nine of us to give presents to, he had to take a longer time?" Maki pondered, then shook her head seeming to decide that finding out why Santa let himself be seen this year wasn't important. "Never mind that! Look! He left presents for all of us!"

As µ's leaned closer to the Christmas tree, they saw that there were  _actually_  presents addressed to each of the girls from Santa, as well as present from each of the girls to each of the other girls. Deciding it was best to freak out about the presents from Santa later, the girls decided to begin opening presents (after being heavily pestered by Maki, of course).

* * *

"Thanks for the manjuu, Honoka-chan!"

"You're welcome, Hanayo-chan!"

Nico stopped her present opening to narrow her eyes at the leader of µ's. "Honoka, why are all the presents from you candy?"

Honoka rubbed the back of her head embarrassedly. "Well, I figured since my parents ran a Japanese candy shop, I could get all my presents from them..."

Umi set down the scarf Nico had sewn and gifted her, frowning at her childhood friend. "You should've at least tried to put some effort into your gifts, Honoka."

Honoka frantically tried to explain herself, speaking as quickly as she could. "I tried, Umi-chan! But I didn't know what to get for everybody, and I didn't want to get anybody something they didn't like so I just thought, 'Oh, everybody likes candy!', and and-" Honoka began tearing up at her own failures, rapidly turning red.

Everybody had noticed the scene by now, stopping all their gift unwrapping. A hand laid itself on Honoka's shoulder, pausing her in her crying. "It's okay, Honoka. We know you tried your best in thinking about our gifts." Eri held up the chocolate Honoka had gotten for her, smiling cheerfully. "Besides, candy isn't a bad gift at all!"

"I'm sorry if it sounded like I was angry, Honoka. I just thought..." Umi apologized from her seat on the carpet, where Kotori was hugging her around the neck.

Honoka swiftly wiped the tears off her own face. "It's okay Umi-chan! I know you meant well!" And just like that, Honoka's cheerful, upbeat mood returned to her. "Yosh! Let's keep unwrapping presents then!"

* * *

After the girls were done unwrapping their presents, they decided to have breakfast, then go outside to play in the snow. While eating her white rice, Maki couldn't stop touching the necklace she had received from Santa. When she had opened the velvet box, Maki had almost dropped the present in shock. The necklace was beautiful. The charm in the center was in the form of a heart, made with a tiny jewel encircled in silver. The chain itself was also silver, shining brightly in the light from the morning sun through the window. When the other girls saw it, they all gathered around and stared at it, gasping at its beauty.

Eri had a similar experience with a bracelet she had received from "Santa", though she a had a pretty good idea as to who had actually gotten her the gift. The bracelet was made with a thin silver chain, interwoven with tiny pale opals, her birthstone.

While none of the other girls had gifts of such extravagance, Kotori enjoyed the amber colored yarn she had received from Umi ("Look, Umi-chan! It's just like the color of your eyes!""I thought it looked more like yours...""Did you say something, Umi-chan?""Huh? Oh, a-ah, n-no...") and Rin was still gushing about the vouchers she got for free ramen at her favorite ramen store in town from Hanayo ("Kayochin always knows what to get Rin, nya!""It's the same present I've gotten you for the past few years, Rin-chan..."). Maki had given everybody a CD with a piano cover of their favorite songs, performed by the composer herself. (Except for Nico, who had gotten a CD of Maki singing all of the µ's love songs. When Nico had questioned this aloud, Maki had covered her own face with a pillow to hide her deep red face). A majority of Nico's gifts had been knitted hats in the gift receivers favorite color.

After the meal, µ's cleaned up the kitchen, and once all thing were in order, filed out to their backyard excitedly, fully ready for fun in the snow.

* * *

Nico turned around, wiping the snow off her hat. "Hey! Who threw that?"

Upon seeing nobody behind her but her crimson haired kouhai, Nico figured the culprit behind the snowball could only be one person. Chuckling darkly to herself, Nico decided to take a little revenge.

Maki had her fingers on her new necklace when the snow assaulted her. With an angry expression on her face and her hands on her hips, Maki turned to confront Nico. "What was that for, you idiot?!"

"Well, Nico believes in giving back what people give to her." With a triumphant smirk on her face, Nico turned to the side and flipped her hair haughtily. Until another snowball caught her unawares.

Maki lowered her hand, still visibly red from having to stoop to such childish ways of getting back at her senior. "Why, you-" Nico's sentence was cut off by another snowball, aimed from slightly to the left of Maki.

Rin gave Nico a large grin, while throwing another snowball up and down. Hanayo looked on from behind Rin, eyes worriedly bouncing back and forth from her childhood friend and the raven haired senior. Suddenly, two snowballs pelted Rin, making her splutter and drop her snowball. Hanayo rushed to her friend's side to check if she was okay, but Rin just jumped back up and began forming as many snowballs as possible, grinning the whole while.

Nozomi and Eri, who had hit Rin with the snowballs, hurriedly started piling the snow up to make a sort of snow barricade, giggling excitedly the whole time. Nico dived behind the two to avoid a snowball from Honoka, who had seen the impending snowball fight and decided to join in. Umi and Kotori had already built up the snow barricade for the second-year trio, and Umi was having a surprising amount of fun in forming more snowballs for Honoka to throw. It was refreshing for the bluenette to be able to let loose and have fun for once. Maki ran over to the base Hanayo had set up, laughing and dodging snowballs from her upperclassmen the whole time.

And so µ's spent the remainder of their day playing around in the snow, forming snow angels, having snowball fights, and attempting to build "the biggest snowman in Japan!" (courtesy of Honoka).

* * *

Once the idol group's Christmas dinner was over, they all went into the living room to watch Frozen in Japanese and drink hot chocolate, while being wrapped up in blankets. Honoka had convinced Maki to let them start a fire in the chimney, and now a cheery fire roared in the brick pillar ("No! You can't light a fire in there!""Maki-chan, it's Christmas already. Santa doesn't need to come through the chimney until next year, doesn't he?""I guess so...").

Nozomi, who was curled up on the couch with her head in Eri's lap (which Umi almost fainted at), made a small noise of disapproval when she saw Elsa's parents encourage Elsa to suppress her powers. "It's never good to try and hid who you are, you know."

Rin had already fallen asleep on Hanayo's shoulder, snoring softly on her friend from childhood, who was slowly stroking the cat girl's hair. Honoka would have done the same, but she could tell that there was a lot of tension between her two childhood friends, as Umi kept taking her eyes off the movie to take quick glances at Kotori, and the taupe haired girl kept scooting a little closer to Umi. Honoka sighed. At the rate this was going, Kotori would only be right next to Umi at the end of the movie. So the ginger haired leader took things into her own hands.

Wrapping her arms around both of them, Honoka gave her childhood friends a mighty hug, pulling them  _very_  close together, and resting her head on Umi's shoulder, away from Kotori. What Honoka didn't count on was the wave of drowsiness that hit her the moment she did this, making her fall asleep instantly.

Umi almost couldn't breathe from how close she was to Kotori. Just from feeling the taupe haired girl's skin against hers, being aware of each of her breaths, and encountering her warmth. It was too much for the bluenette. Thankfully, Umi managed to not faint, knowing deep in her heart that this was probably the only time she would be able to get an experience like this.

Kotori, for the most part, was doing much better than her crush. She, like Umi, knew this was probably a once in a lifetime chance, so she was determined to take full advantage of it. She scooted all the way next to Umi, hugging her around the waist and bringing them as close as they possibly could be. Umi decided that this was completely and absolutely fine, leaning into Kotori a little bit.

Maki had already wrapped her arms and blanket around Nico, laying down on and cuddling into her senior adorably. Nico began to wonder if Maki was up to something, because Santa and the magic of Christmas really must be real if Maki wasn't a tsundere on Christmas.

* * *

Eventually, it came to the time that everybody had to go to sleep. With the movie over and the hot chocolate gone, all that was left was for everybody to say their goodnights. Nozomi helped Hanayo carry Rin up to her bed, while Kotori and Umi were content to just fall asleep next to each other on the living room carpet, much to Umi's utter embarrassment, while Honoka had been adjusted so that she was sleeping on her love seat, clinging onto the Kira Tsubasa plushie that Hanayo had gotten her for Christmas. Nico and Maki helped Eri put away the mugs the girls had used for hot chocolate, though it seemed that Maki wasn't concerned with being wrapped up in Nico's blanket while doing so.

And just like that, Christmas day ended for µ's. It had been a pretty good one, Eri thought to herself as she washed out the mugs by herself, having shooed Maki and Nico off to bed.

"Oh? Is Ericchi going to stay up by herself to make sure the mugs are clean?~"

Eri knew the voice behind that whisper more than anything else in the world. It was the same voice and tone that had often caught her unawares when she had accidentally spent more time in the student council room than she had meant to. Nozomi walked into the kitchen, picking up one of the washed out mugs and grabbing a towel to dry it off, then putting it away in the cabinet above the sink.

"Somebody has to do it, and I would prefer everyone else get some extra sleep. We have a big practice tomorrow because we skipped today."

"Still, Ericchi shouldn't be out here alone." Eri was used to Nozomi not letting her do things on her own by now. And for that Eri was eternally grateful.

The rest of the mugs were washed and put away in comfortable silence. The two looked over the kitchen one more time before turning off the lights and heading up to their rooms. Once Eri reached her room, she paused with her hand on the doorknob.

"Nozomi..." Said spiritual girl paused in going into her own room. "Thank you for the bracelet." Blushing, the quarter Russian rushed into her room, slamming the door behind her.

Nozomi looked at the closed door with a blush on her face. She chuckled, closing her door softly behind her. "Ericchi isn't as dense as she normally seems today, I suppose."

* * *

**Omake:**

Nico was walking back to her room after a midnight run to the kitchen for water. Only to stop when she saw Maki passed out in the living room. Sighing once she realized the pianist had been waiting up all night to see Santa, Nico covered Maki in a blanket from the love seat before turning around to go back to the stairs. Only to stop again when she saw Nozomi come down the stairs.

In a full Santa costume.

"Nozomi-" She stopped to lower her voice. "Nozomi! What the hell are you doing?!"

"Well, I just thought Maki-chan deserved to see Santa this year, don't you think, Nicocchi?" Nozomi paused on her way to the Christmas tree, her finger on her chin. "Though I couldn't really think of what to get Maki-chan for Christmas twice... the present from me was hard enough to think of, but the present from Santa is a little too much. Do you have any suggestions, Nicocchi?"

"Why are you asking me at midnight on Christmas Eve? Shouldn't you have thought of this earlier?" Nico sighed, then blushed, covering her face with one hand while thrusting a well-wrapped gift into Nozomi's hands. "Just... take this. I was gonna leave it here with her, but I guess you can put it under the tree if you want."

"Aww, Nicocchi is so sweet!" Nozomi put the box into the bag she was carrying as Santa. She took out another gift, which appeared to be a book, that was addressed, "To Maki, From Santa". "I guess I can give Honoka-chan this smut back then, eh?"

Nico's jaw dropped. "YOU WERE GOING TO GIVE MAKI SMUT FOR CHRISTMAS?!"


	4. A Midmas Trip to Akiba

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which µ's visits Akiba

Honoka woke up just like she did every morning since winter break had started. With Umi at the foot of her bed, glaring at her, and Kotori in her doorway, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

"Eheh..."

"Honoka, I told you to set your alarm for this morning!"

"But Umi-chan!" Honoka whined. "It's winter break! I'm supposed to be allowed to sleep in!"

"Any other day is fine but-"

"You wake me up early every other day too!"

Umi huffed. "That's not true, I let you sleep in on Christmas."

"But then Maki-chan woke me up!"

Umi got up from her seat on Honoka's bed. "Anyway, you should get dressed soon. Nico-chan isn't going to make breakfast for you again if you're late."

At the thought of her breakfast being threatened, Honoka panicked. "Ah! Okay, I'll be down right now!"

* * *

"Happy Midmas, everybody!"

Eli paused in taking a sip of her morning coffee to turn and raise an eyebrow at Honoka. "Midmas?"

Honoka nodded happily while taking a plate from a cupboard to pile her food on. "Uhn! It's a fake holiday Umi-chan, Kotori-chan and I came up with when we were little!"

Kotori came down the stairs. "The idea is that it's the day right between Christmas and New Year's, kinda the middle of two really big holidays, hence Midmas!"

"Ah... that makes sense." Nozomi seemed to grasp the concept of the 'holiday'. She smiled, taking her finger off her mouth and making a checkmark in the air. "Happy Midmas!"

"I've always felt like this day is sort of missing something." Nico appeared to like the idea. "There's a lot of anxiety in the time between Christmas and New Year's isn't there? They're too far to get hyped over them at the same time, but they're too close to really let yourself settle back down."

Maki simply ignored the conversation, instead focusing on gathering more event points for the current SIF event. She really couldn't let Nozomi get the first spot, could she?

Umi came down the stairs. "Is everybody ready to go to Akiba?"

Honoka looked up from her place at the kitchen table, where she was devouring her breakfast. "Of course not, Umi-chan! I just got down here! I haven't finished breakfast yet!"

Rin nodded with Honoka. "Yeah, yeah! Besides, Kayo-chin isn't done with her rice yet either!" True to her word, the lavender eyed girl beside her was halfway through a bowl of white rice.

Umi narrowed her eyes. "Hanayo-chan... weren't you just eating a bowl of rice before?"

"E-eh?" Hanayo's eyes widened. "I d-don't know what you're talking about, Umi-chan, ahahaha..." Hanayo's laugh trailed off as Umi's glare intensified, and the older girl stepped closer.

"Hanayo, do you need to go on another diet?"

"Ah! N-no!" Umi stepped closer once more. "S-somebody save me!"

* * *

The day's planned trip to Akiba began with Eli driving the girls into the city in the car they had received from their sponsors. It only seemed natural that one of the mothers of µ's was the one driving them to their destination.

"Eli-chan is so... amazing." Honoka admired.

Eli almost ran a red light at that. "Wh-what?!"

"Uhn! Eli-chan's so great at everything! She can dance, sing, and she's really good at making accessories!" Kotori wholeheartedly agreed with Honoka, sticking her head out from between the headrests of the center seats.

"Eli-chan's  _super_ nice too, nya! When Rin trips and gets hurt, Eli-chan always helps Rin put on the bandage!"

By this point, Eli's blush rivaled the color of Maki's hair.

"A-and whenever we need something, E-eli-chan always gets it for us!" Hanayo shyly added to the Eli love.

"Not to mention that Elicchi is pretty, hm?" Nozomi playfully covered her mouth with her hand when Eli looked at her, betrayed.

"Uhn! Eli-chan's gorgeous! She's so slim and tall! Uwah~ I wish I had Eli-chan's body figure!" Honoka rambled on about Eli's appearance, seemingly not noticing the state Eli was in.

At the rate this was going, Eli might actually pass out and crash the car, which was really the only reason Nozomi stopped the Eli appreciation for the time being. She wasn't at all jealous of the others complimenting Eli. Nor was she feeling possessive of Eli at all. Nope. Read: Yes she was.

* * *

Once they reached AKiba, Eli went through the worst part of driving: finding a parking space.

"There's one right there, Eli-chan!"

Eli whipped her head around. "Where?!"

Honoka shrouded her eyes from the sun. "Oh, nevermind, somebody took it."

"Eli-chan, turn right, nya!"

Eli turned as hard as she could, forcing everybody in the car to fall to the left, leading to a pretty awkward encounter when Maki fell right into Nico's lap ("I knew you fell for me, Maki-chan, but I didn't think you would do it so literally~""Sh-shut up!").

"Now left, Eli-chan!"

Honoka, who had just gotten off the floor, fell once again, and decided it was probably safer to just stay there.

"Oh, phew. I thought that blue car had been following us, nya!"

Eli slammed her head onto the steering wheel, making the car horn blast.

"Over there, Eli-chan!" Eli calculated the chances of it actually being a parking spot. Deciding to take her chances, she looked up and turned to where Honoka was pointing.

"That's another street, Honoka."

Eli decided that µ's would never again take a car somewhere.

* * *

"Uwa~ they're so cute!"

"Honoka, we've already met them in real life. Do you really need to keep fawning over A-RISE?"

Honoka pouted from her position next to the A-RISE section in the school idol store of Akiba. "I can't help that A-RISE are really cute!"

"By A-RISE, Honoka-chan means Tsubasa-san, no?" Nozomi happened to be passing by with a bunch of Eli's merch in her arms.

Honoka blushed. "I-I don't know what you're talking about Nozomi!"

"So that isn't a button of Kira Tsubasa behind your back?"

Nico snatched the item in question out of Honoka's hands. "Yep, it's Tsubasa."

Honoka took the button back, blushing and spluttering. "I-I just like how she looks in this button, that's all!"

"Do you also like how she looks in that card then too?"

"And that fan? And the poster? And that keychain? And the bag they're all in?" Nico rummaged through the massive bag of Kira Tsubasa Honoka had in her hands.

Honoka simply hung her head in embarrassment. Maki walked past with her bag of her own merchandise, twirling her hair in one hand. "Okay, okay, calm down, it's not like we didn't know Honoka was pretty much  _in love_ with Tsubasa since they met-"

"More importantly, Maki, what are you doing with that bag?" Nico looked pointedly at Maki's bag.

Maki blushed and put the bag behind her. "D-don't worry about it!"

"Aww, Maki-chan, you didn't have to buy all that stuff for me! I would've paid for it myself~! Besides, who needs all that stuff when you have the real Maki-chan here?" Nico playfully ran up to Maki and rubbed their faces together, while Maki tried to push her off with one hand.

Rin simply watched the scene from the cashier, trying to hide the Hanayo button she was buying.

* * *

After walking around Akiba some more, the girls decided to go back to the car so they could head home. On the way, however, they heard a large cry from Hanayo.

"O-over there!" Hanayo pointed to a large group of people, gathered around something on the sidewalk.

"What is it, Kayochin?"

"I-I-It's A-RISE!"

Honoka almost choked on the drink she was swallowing. Instead, she simply spit it all over the person in front of her, who happened to be Nico. The crowd in front of A-RISE parted, allowing the two idol groups to get a look at each other. A-RISE walked over to µ's, as the crowd that had formed around them began to disperse.

"Hello, µ's. I didn't think I would find you girls in Akiba. Especially when it's so cold out."

Sensing the idol group's leader's inability to speak, Eli took charge. "We thought getting fresh air would be nice."

Tsubasa nodded knowingly. "Ah, yes. I heard about the deal given to you by TSM. I'm glad you got such a nice offer." Tsubasa did actually seem genuinely happy for µ's. "Unfortunately, we have to be going right now. Ja ne!" Tsubasa bid the girls farewell, with Anju and Erena echoing her words. Upon seeing Honoka's shocked state, however, Tsubasa giggled and added a wink to her farewell, also blowing a kiss to the ginger haired leader.

This seemed to pull Honoka from her shock. However, she realized that she was holding a bag with Kira Tsubasa's face on it. And it was filled with Kira Tsubasa merchandise. And Kira Tsubasa had just talked to her. And blew a kiss at her. And winked.

Honoka pulled an Umi. (That is to say, she fainted.)

* * *

"I'm done dealing with these people." Eli's face showed her displeasure with having to haul her underclassman back to her car.

"Well at least she got to meet her idol, right?" Nozomi seemed to be amused with Eli's irritation.

"She was so charmed she didn't even notice that Tsubasa is shorter than her."

Kotori and Umi ran up to the group, carrying the bag of Tsubasa merchandise that Honoka had bought.

"Do you think Honoka-chan will be happy that we got Tsubasa-san to sign her... everything, nya?"

"I-I think so. At least it'll be worth fainting in front of her, right?"

Nobody seemed convinced that Honoka's image in Tsubasa's mind hadn't taken a massive blow that day.


	5. New Year, New Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which massive amounts of ship pandering occurs.

For the first time in forever (insert Frozen joke), Honoka finally woke up on her own. Sort of. She woke up on her own in that there was no angry Umi sitting on her bed, with Kotori in her doorway this morning. There was, however, a loud crash outside her door, which woke her up instead. She could hear whispers coming from outside her door, so despite her strong urges to just go back to sleep, Honoka decided to press her ear against the door to try and listen to the conversation outside.

"It's New Year's Eve, Umi-chan. Let her sleep in a little." The soft, high-pitched tone of the voice made it clear to Honoka that the speaker was Kotori.

"But she has to get ready to help us set up, Kotori. I've said this many times, but you really do baby Honoka too much." The sharp tone, while softened by Kotori's presence, could belong to nobody but Umi.

"But, Umi-chan..."

"No! No, Kotori! Don't-"

"Umi-chan... Onegai!" Honoka snickered quietly. Umi, for all her strictness and hatred for anything remotely romantic, could never refuse when Kotori brought out the puppy dog eyes.

"A-ah... I suppose she can sleep in because it's New Year's."

"Yay! You're the best, Umi-chan~!"

Honoka marveled at how whipped Umi was, then decided that she would use this opportunity that Kotori gave her and sleep in today.

* * *

When she walked downstairs, Honoka was greeted by the sight of an angry Umi and an apologetic Kotori, the only difference between how she usually woke up and this being that they were in the living room.

"Honoka! It's half past noon! How could you possibly sleep in this late?!"

Honoka rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Well... I didn't see the time at all, so I just sort of..."

"A-RISE will be here for our New Year's party in an a few hours, Honoka-chan." Nozomi smiled benignly from her place on the couch in the living room.

Honoka's jaw dropped. "Oh my gosh, I completely forgot! Oh no, what am I going to wear..."

"Is Honoka-chan perhaps thinking of trying to dress pretty for Tsubasa-san so she can get a midnight kiss?"

"Wh-wh-what?!" Honoka tried to look completely bewildered. "I-I hadn't even thought of that!"

"I have a feeling you've gone too far..." Nico said. "Haha! I've finally got her back for that one time in Maki-chan's summer house!" Nico held up her hand towards Hanayo, who reluctantly gave Nico a high-five.

"Maybe you should worry about that after eating breakfast, Honoka-chan." Kotori suggested with a cheerful smile.

Honoka's stomach grumbled, almost as if it was agreeing with Kotori. "Kotori-chan always has the best plans!"

Umi facepalmed in the background. "That's because Kotori's plans always involve giving you food..."

* * *

Eli clapped her hands together. "Okay! Let's start setting up for the party everybody!"

A chorus of agreement came from the idol group. It was just beginning to become dark outside, and while the girls would have liked to sit on their roof and watch the sunset like they usually did, they had to get ready for A-RISE's arrival, which was essentially just a glorified clean up.

While Hanayo sweeped the floors, Nico vacuumed the carpets. Honoka and Kotori went around putting up decorations and lights for the party. Nozomi wiped down all the glass in the house with cleaning formula, and Umi went through all the bedrooms to make sure they were clean ("Honoka! Clean your room!""Mou, don't say things my mom would say!"). Eli, Rin and Maki had gone to the store to try and get things they still needed for the party.

"No, Rin, we don't need more rice."

"But Kayochin, nya..."

Maki facepalmed. "Just tell her you love her already!"

"Maki-chan's one to talk! Nico-chan and her are still 'just friends', nya!" Rin then pointed to Eli accusingly, ignoring the spluttering redhead behind her. "And you haven't said anything about Eli-chan and Nozomi-chan!"

Eli held her hands up, a disbelieving expression on her face. "What do you mean?! There's nothing to say! Haha..."

"You and Nozomi-chan are basically married, nya! Rin wishes she was like that with Kayo-!" Rin punched herself in the face to silence herself as quickly as possible.

Maki, who had recovered by that time, nodded with Rin. "You two are so canon, it's unreal."

"C-canon?! What does that even mean?!"

* * *

Kotori was the first to spot the arriving idol group. "Minna! A-RISE is here!"

Honoka screamed. She grabbed Kotori by the shoulders, shaking the taupe haired girl frantically. "How do I look?! Is my hair okay?! Kotori-chan, answer me!"

"Honoka! Don't treat Kotori like that!"

"Y-you're hair is fine! Honoka-chan, you look very pretty, I'm sure Tsuba-" Kotori quickly covered her mouth with her hands.

Undeterred by Honoka's meltdown, Eli opened the door to let the other idol group in. "Hello, A-RISE!" She greeted.

The somewhat rival group walked into the µ's house, looking, as they always did absolutely glamorous and fabulous. Honoka almost fainted again when she saw the white dress Tsubasa was wearing. Erena, who was wearing a black number that hugged her torso tightly, but fanned out past her waist, was carrying a handbag with her, and on her other arm was Anju, wearing a tight red dress complimenting her figure perfectly.

"Ojama shimasu." All three members of A-RISE said as they entered the house. Tsubasa noticed Honoka, who was standing near the back of the group ("Honoka, for the last time, she is  _our equal_."), and walked towards the ginger-haired girl, putting a small sway in her hips on her way over.

Eli almost facepalmed. She could hardly deal with her two mini-unit members ("So... Maki-chan... nice dress.""Stop looking at my chest, you ecchi."), nor could she deal with the two second-years who weren't smitten with Tsubasa ("Let go of my arm, Kotori! I need to stop Tsubasa and Honoka from doing anything shameless!""Don't worry so much, Umi-chan! I'm sure Honoka will be fine!"). When she wasn't dealing with those four, she had to keep an eye on the first year childhood friends ("Rin-chan, are we really allowed to eat already?""We might as well, Kayochin! Everybody else is too busy with each other, nya!"). Not to mention...

"Ah, young love, hm, Elicchi?" There came the voice of her final headache in µ's.

Eli grimaced, rubbing her temple to try and get rid of her massive headache. "I have enough to deal with in µ's, I don't need more horny lesbians around me. Especially if they're going to charm Honoka. What will the media think when our leader is found fawning over Kira Tsubasa?"

"They'll think A-RISE and µ's have a collaboration about to be planned, Elicchi." Nozomi giggled at the quick glare Eli gave her. "Honestly, Elicchi, you worry too much! The media won't care about this kind of thing!"

Eli sighed, deciding to believe in Nozomi's words. "I guess you're right."

Nozomi handed Eli a plastic cup with some of the punch µ's had made for the party, and began to distract Eli by describing a particularly amusing event that had occurred in her biology course at her university.

* * *

Umi was refilling her cup with punch when Maki joined her at the drinks table. Wordlessly, Umi ladled some punch into Maki's own cup, the redhead thanking her with a curt nod. They both turned away from the table to observe the party behind them, or more, specifically, the two girls who were usually in charge of making costumes for µ's.

"Nico-chan... is so cute... At least I'm really hot so she'll probably fall in love with me."

If Umi noticed something very,  _very_ , wrong with what Maki had just said, she didn't show it. "She's already in love with you because you're so  _hot_. And so is Kotori. and I'm just...  _nothing_."

"Don't say that. Umi-chan is really hot too. Not as hot as Nico-chan and I, but you're up there."

Eli joined the two, filling up her plastic cup as well. The two already there turned to look at her.

"But now Eli-chan..."

"She might be hotter than the rest of us together."

"It's not fair!" They proclaimed together, scaring Eli into almost spitting out the punch she was drinking. "Why does Eli have to be so pretty?"

"I'm not  _that_  pretty-"

Umi pointed a finger at Eli accusingly, tipping slightly to the side and sipping from her cup at the same time. "Yes you are! You're hot! And Nozomi is hot!"

"And I'm hot!" Maki added at the end.

"You guys are  _perfect_ for each other!"

Everyone else in the house just watched the trio, being very sure to  _not_  drink the punch. Nozomi sighed. "Alright, who did it?"

Erena slowly and discreetely slid her bag away from her, before opening the window behind her, chucking the bag out and closing the window. Everyone else was too busy trying to peel the plastic cups away from the Soldier Game trio to notice Erena's shifty dealings.

* * *

Eli settled down on her best friend's bed, before sitting back up again and staring at Nozomi, who simply laughed and closed the door to her room.

"Nozomi." The shrine maiden turned around to see the blonde girl looking at her, eyes wide with wonder. "You're gorgeous."

Nozomi smiled. It was endearing to see the usually cool and calm girl so admiring of her. "Mou, Elicchi is very attractive, too, though~"

"Yeah, but you're  _really_  pretty. Like  _really, really_  pretty. People shouldn't be allowed to be that pretty." Nozomi blushed, despite knowing that Eli had no idea what she was saying.

"Oh, you flatter me Elicchi."

"And, and-" Eli fell on her face from trying to get up from Nozomi's bed too quickly. She slowly got up, continuing on her way to Nozomi, who was sitting on her chair in front of her desk, where she fell to her knees. Nozomi raised an eyebrow, then quickly pulled her head back when the other girl's hands landed on her knees, as Eli thrust her face right in front of the other girl's, both pairs of eyes staring into the other.

"You always take care of me whenever something happens. Remember when I didn't want to join µ's because I thought they were just filthy casuals?" Nozomi had to stifle her laughter at Eli's description of µ's in their early days. "And then you made me! Or you told Honoka about me, and then she made me! I wouldn't be here if you didn't make her!"

"Well... yeah, that's true."

"When we were in the car on our way to Akiba- by the way, I'm never driving you guys anywhere ever again- when we were in the car, they were telling the wrong person all those things." Nozomi had a flashback to the moment in question.

"Come now, Elicchi must have enjoyed that a little bit."

"Of course I didn't! I love µ's, but I wanted to hear all that from you!"  _That_  made Nozomi blush. "And all I got from you is that I'm pretty! I get that all the damn time! Do you only like me for my body?!"

Nozomi's blush rapidly died down as she couldn't stop a few laughs from slipping out. "Now, now, Elicchi has some other good traits too-"

"Yeah, but not like you!" Eli leaned closer. "You're perfect." The last bit came out a bit breathy as Eli began leaning closer and closer to Nozomi...

Then promptly slipped and fell, her face landing right between Nozomi's breasts. Nozomi simply started laughing at the top of her lungs at the ruined moment.

* * *

Kotori led (read:dragged) Umi over into the love seat in the living room, which Umi slumped into, holding her face in her hands. Kotori stood over her intoxicated friend, trying as best she could to not laugh at the situation. Umi, who was always so strict and uptight, was a complete mess right now.

"Kotori."

Said girl looked down, and blushed at the view she received of Umi's chest from the vantage point. She quickly kneeled down so she was face-to-face with Umi. "What is it, Umi-chan?" She couldn't help but be worried for the bluenette. If she was acting this out of character, she must be  _really_  drunk.

Umi looked up from her position, putting her chin in her hands, staring into the taupe haired girls eyes with her own. "Why are you so perfect?"

Kotori spluttered, sitting back onto her heels. "U-Umi-chan!"

"No, seriously!" Umi took the other girl's hands into her own. "You're really good at everything, and you're really hot-"

Kotori thought she was going to die from embarrassment, her blush getting deeper and deeper with every word Umi added.

"And you're super nice." Umi rambled on. "Like  _super_  nice. Especially to Honoka. Do you like her or something?" Suddenly, Umi's mood dropped. She frowned deeply, and her gaze dropped to the floor. "I bet you do like Honoka. She's always so sweet and adventurous, having fun all the time. Not like me, when I always make her do her homework and other boring things."

Umi leaned back suddenly, throwing her arms to the side and resting her head on the chair. "I bet you and Honoka are gonna fall in love and have really hot, fun, nice babies together, and you guys will just leave me alone in the world to deal with the fate of being born boring and not hot."

Kotori could stand for this foolishness no longer. She pulled Umi down from the chair, the other girl letting out a large yelp as she fell onto the floor. Kotori immediately turned Umi over so that Umi was face-up, then straddled Umi's hips. The taupe haired girl leaned forward, grabbing onto Umi's wrists so that she couldn't move them. It briefly crossed her mind that this was the exact place where the two had cuddled and fell asleep after Frozen. Oh, well. This was a much different scenario.

"Listen to me, Umi-chan." Hearing the normally soft spoken girl with such a strong tone made Umi stop struggling and pay attention to Kotori's words. "I will never leave you alone, ever. I definitely don't like Honoka-chan in the way that you're thinking. And I don't think you're boring! You're actually really interesting! You're always so passionate about our lyrics and your archery! I love seeing the way your eyes light up when you're working on either of those things! And you're really smart! Honoka-chan and I wouldn't have passed most of our classes if it wasn't for you! Plus-"

Kotori blushed, then steeled herself. She had to boost the other girl's self confidence somehow. "I think Umi-chan is really attractive, too!"

Umi's mouth just kept opening and shutting. Kotori buried her face into the other girl's neck to hide her massive blush. When she raised her head again, Kotori saw a bright smile on Umi's face.

"So you don't like Honoka?"

Kotori's jaw dropped. " _That's_  what you got out of that?!"

"Kotori-chan, I'm glad you think all those things about me. But still, you really don't like Honoka-chan?" Umi's bright smile turned into a goofy grin when she repeated the words. Kotori would have facepalmed if her hands were free.

"By the way, Kotori... can you let me go? Somebody might get the wrong idea."

Kotori let got of Umi's wrists, then wrapped her arms around the other girl, snuggling closer to her. "Nope, I don't think I will, Umi-chan."

Umi's grin softened as she returned the embrace, burying her face into the designer's hair.

* * *

"Rin-chan, I don't think-"

"Nonsense, Kayochin! This will work out fine, nya!"

Hanayo looked on in worry as Rin climbed higher and higher into the tree in front of the µ's house.

"Here, kitty... Come to Rin, nya!"

The pair had gone outside for fresh air (and to escape how gay everything was in there- like really, there was  _way_  too much sexual tension in there for any good to happen), and Rin had heard a soft mewling from the tree in front of them. Upon further investigation, the two had discovered a small kitten stuck in one of the higher branches of the tree, and, feeling a kinship with the animal, Rin had taken it upon herself to rescue the poor animal.

Hanayo almost screamed as Rin's foot slipped, but the other girl managed to recover quickly enough, and continued ascending the tree, getting ever closer to where the cat was perched.

"Rin-chan, be careful!"

Rin shot Hanayo a grin and a thumbs-up as a sign of good faith, before finally getting in a position that would allow her to grab the kitten.

"Come on... There!"

The kitten had been (thankfully) cooperative, and easily walked into Rin's hands, allowing the girl to put it inside her pocket (she was thankful had opted for wearing pants instead of a dress for the party). Rin's descent was much easier and less stressful to Hanayo than her journey upwards. When Rin jumped the last few feet onto the ground, Hanayo let out a breath she had been very aware she had been holding.

Rin reached into her pocket to bring the source of the trouble into the light. "Whoa! Look, Kayochin, she's so cute!"

The lavender eyed girl looked closer. "Uwa~ She's adorable!"

"Rin's gonna name her... Pana-chan!"

Hanayo blinked. "Where did you get that name from, Rin-chan?"

The cat like girl scratched her head bashfully. "Well... It reminded me of Kayochin..."

Hanayo blushed brightly, surprised by Rin's honesty. "Ah... I wonder where she came from..."

Rin's smile dropped. "Hm... you're right... Rin wouldn't want to steal Pana-chan away from anyone else..."

Hanayo, desperate to have Rin's smile return, tried to lift the girl's spirits. "Well... we can put up flyers to see if anybody recognizes her. And until then, we can keep care of her!"

The corner of Rin's lips lifted slightly. "That would be nice."

Seeing the other girl's mood improve made Hanayo relax slightly. Suddenly, Rin threw her arms around Hanayo, careful to put Pana-chan back into her pocket before she did so.

"Kayochin always has the best plans!" Hanayo blushed at the close contact, but returned the hug nonetheless, with Pana-chan meowing softly from Rin's pocket.

* * *

Honoka gulped. Tsubasa was currently talking about one of the other school idol groups that had been in the Love Live. It was clear that Tsubasa respected the group, and her tone of voice made it clear to Honoka that she really did admire the group.

"And their choreography is always so crisp! They can really capture the attention of their audience with how well they dance."

Honoka almost punched herself. How could someone be so massively talented, massively attractive  _and_ still be willing to discuss what others can do well? One would think that Tsubasa would even be slightly conceited with how successful A-RISE was, but she always praised and encouraged other idol groups.

"Of course, they're not nearly as talented as µ's." Tsubasa's voice cut through Honoka's thoughts, and Honoka began to listen to the green eyed girl again, blushing at the praise.

"Th-thank you!"

Tsubasa simply laughed. "There's no need to be so formal, Kousaka-san! We are equals after all. Actually, you might be our superiors."

Honoka spluttered at that. "What?! No, there's no way-"

"Ah, but you won the Love Live, didn't you?" Tsubasa smiled when Honoka laughed awkwardly. "Don't worry, none of us are mad about that. We lost, plain and simple. But don't think we won't keep you on your toes, Kousaka-san!"

Honoka started smiling when she realized Tsubasa really was quite friendly. "None of us would want it any other way. And please, call me Honoka."

"As long as you call me Tsubasa, Honoka-chan." The ginger haired leader of µ's blushed once she realized she was on a first-name basis with someone she had admired since she first became an idol.

Tsubasa looked around, realizing that they were essentially alone in the kitchen. "Ah... I believe I have to apologize for my group mate."

Honoka was confused, raising an eyebrow to display that perfectly. "What do you mean?"

"Well... Erena has this tendency to... amuse herself when among others." Seeing Honoka pale considerably, Tsubasa began waving her arms frantically to dissuade the ginger's thoughts. "Not in any way that would harm anybody, though! She makes sure it's harmless and nothing gets hurt. Still... she did spike your drinks."

Honoka finally understood. "Ah... That makes sense now, thank you."

"So, Honoka-chan." Tsubasa crossed her legs and leaned closer to the other girl. "What do you think about having dinner with me next week?"

Honoka fainted again, which put her on par with Umi in terms of fainting.

* * *

"The snow's so pretty!"

"Not as pretty as you... and me."

Nico smirked widely. There was nothing more amusing than this. Maki, who was always calm and quiet, was now as arrogant and flirty as a male lead in any bad action movie. She turned around to spot Maki leaning against the back door of the house, twirling her hair with a finger and looking  _really hot_. Another pro of Maki being intoxicated: Maki wasn't afraid to turn on all her charm and attractiveness, which made Nico feel like even the cold outside air was warming up around her. Nico fanned herself to get rid of all the trashy thoughts that were starting to creep into her mind.

"I should really get you drunk more often."

"I should really get in your pants more often."

Well that threw Nico for a loop. She thought Maki was being flirty, not creepy! "Okay, slow down there."

Maki moved closer to Nico, putting a hand on her face. Nico cursed inwardly. The allure was even stronger up close to Maki. "I think we need to speed up actually..."

Nico was internally freaking out as Maki's lips moved closer and closer to hers. This wasn't how she wanted their first kiss to go! She needed Maki sober, preferably on a moonlit patio somewhere with candles burning all around them, probably after a super successful performance that launched Nico's career as a super idol.

With that in mind, Nico headbutted Maki lightly, making the other girl pull back and giving the upperclassman some breathing room.

"Okay, you look really hot right now-"

"I mean, I always look really hot. And so do you."

Nico facepalmed. "But we are not having our first kiss with you drunk."

"Well..." Maki moved closer again. "We don't have to kiss..."

That was a really tempting argument. Thankfully, the moment was interrupted by a call from Erena which sounded all through the house. "Everybody, get back to the living room! It's 11:59!"

Nico let out a breath. If that hadn't occurred when it did, Nico figured some...  _bad_  (read:  _good_ ) things would have happened between the two.

* * *

All the girls filed into the living room, with Honoka fanning herself, still blushing very strongly.

"10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1!"

"Happy New Year's!" came the collective cheer from all the girls in the room.

Eli almost immediately jumped on Nozomi, showering the spiritual girl with kisses, making Nozomi giggle. Umi held up Kotori's hands to her lips, kissing her knuckles, then slowly making her way up Kotori's right arm, all the way up to the taupe haired girl's neck, making Kotori release a sort of whine/moan. Maki went for a kiss on Nico's cheek, then continued on to press kisses onto Nico's neck, which Nico took much less happily then Kotori, slowly pushing Maki's face away from her body in general.

Rin and Hanayo looked at each other, blushed, and turned away, but a soft mewling from Rin's arms made Hanayo look back. Upon seeing Rin nuzzle Pana-chan, Hanayo could not hold back a squeal expressing how cute she thought the scene was. Hanayo inched closer to Rin, then, blushing heavily, she quickly moved her head into a position to kiss Rin on the cheek, just as Rin moved to mirror the motion. What occurred was not (unfortunately) an actual kiss, but it was so close that both girls couldn't look each other in the face at all.

Tsubasa glanced at Honoka from the corner of her eye. "So..."

Honoka stopped fanning herself and giggled. "I'm not gonna faint again if that's what you're thinking."

Tsubasa grinned. "Good!"

The brunette quickly leaned in for a kiss on Honoka's cheek, then moved her head to the other side of Honoka and kissing the ginger haired girl's other cheek. Honoka blushed very deeply, the shade of red meeting Maki's hair shade, but true to her word, she didn't faint, and even managed to return the kiss onto Tsubasa without passing out.

* * *

With the New Year's arrival, the group headed over to their local shrine, and quickly performed their prayers for the new year, all of the girls hoping that nobody would notice that they were nationally famous idols, and all of them hoping nobody would realize that six of them were missing. Nozomi, Nico and Kotori had stayed behind at the house to ensure that the intoxicated members of µ's would not have any problems.

At the bottom of the stairs to the shrine, A-RISE and the three members of µ's bid goodbye to each other, with Tsubasa blowing another kiss to Honoka, who blushed once more for the night.

Once out of earshot of µ's and anybody else, Tsubasa turned to Erena. "Did you really have to spike the drinks?"

Erena shrugged then laughed as Anju hugged her arm. "I figured they could all use something to loosen them up."

"She figured that if it worked for us it would work for everybody else." Anju giggled when Erena kissed the top of her head.

Tsubasa shook her head. "What are you going to do next time? Put aphrodisiacs in their food?"

Erena's lips lifted slyly. "Well, if it worked for me and Anju..."

Tsubasa immediately slammed her hands onto her ears. "Please don't continue."

* * *

**Omake:**

When Eli woke up from her slumber, she cuddled into her pillow tightly, not wanting to face the daylight just yet. But she noticed something different with her pillows. They were... softer. Eli noticed something else. Her pillows were shifting slightly, almost as if they were...

She lifted her head. And noticed that she had in fact been cuddling into Nozomi's chest and her "pillows" had been shifting because Nozomi had been stifling her laughter. When she saw the blonde look up however, Nozomi stopped trying to hide her laughter and started laughing as hard as she could.

"N-Nozomi! Why am I in your room?! And why am I in your bed?!" Eli immediately covered her ears. "And why does my head hurt so much?" She hissed in a much quieter tone.


	6. First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanayo screamed. "Rin-chan, that's one of the real glass cups!"

"Good morning, everybody!"

Umi took another sip of her morning tea. "Good morning, Honoka."

Then Umi spit out her tea. Hanayo dropped her rice bowl. Nico threw her phone out the window. Everyone in µ's fell out of their chair on the kitchen table in shock.

"I MESSED UP MY FULL COMBO." Everybody looked at Nico in confusion. "Wait... oh, we're freaking out over the  _other_  thing."

"HONOKA WOKE UP ON TIME?!"

* * *

After everybody had gotten off the floor and smoother out their clothes, they all sat down at the kitchen table once more to find Honoka sulking with her oatmeal.

"Mou, everybody is so mean to me!"

Umi tried to reason with Honoka. "Can you blame them? You haven't woken up on time by yourself since break started!"

"That's because I've never had a reason to wake up early!"

Nico perked up from outside the kitchen window. "And you have a reason to wake up early today?"

"No... I just couldn't go back to sleep after I woke up!"

Nico leaned her arm on the windowsill, resting her head on one hand. "Why not?"

"The more important question is: Nico-chan, why are you outside?" Maki had her priorities for information.

"Eh? Oh, I'm just getting my phone." Nico decided that was probably the best time to come back inside, considering it was getting pretty cold out.

Everybody turned their attention back to Honoka. "But really, Honoka, why couldn't you get back to sleep?" Eli picked up where Nico left off.

The answer came in the form of an unintelligible murmur. "What was that, Honoka-chan?"

"I said, I have a date with Tsubasa today!"

Everybody ended up on the floor for the second time that morning.

* * *

"How did you even manage to accept without fainting?"

Honoka pressed her pointer fingers together sheepishly. "Well..."

Nico facepalmed. "You did faint, didn't you?"

Honoka rubbed the back of her head. "It was kind of warm in here!"

Rin looked at Honoka worriedly. "How is Honoka-chan going to go on a date with Tsubasa-san if she keeps fainting, nya?"

Nozomi seemed to be deep in thought. "Perhaps we need to train her not to faint when she feels like she's going to?"

Eli shook her head. "That's no good. Remember when we tried to do that to Umi?"

_Flashback_

_"Umi-chan... If you faint during another 'treatment', I'll squeeze tighter next time~"_

_Umi screamed in fear._

_End Flashback_

Umi shivered at the memory, while Kotori tried to hold her to wipe away all the bad memories. Nozomi simply smiled innocently.

Hanayo rubbed Honoka's back sympathetically. "It's okay, Honoka-chan. Maybe when you get to know Tsubasa-san more, you'll stop being so shy around her."

"Maybe..."

Everybody in the room seemed to ponder the thought, before all reaching the same conclusion.

"Nah."

* * *

Kotori tightened the hairband around Honoka's side ponytail one last time. She leaned down so that her head was level with Honoka's, looking at the vanity mirror in front of them while Honoka fiddled with her phone, waiting anxiously for Tsubasa to call her when she was outside.

"You look beautiful, Honoka-chan. Tsubasa-san won't be able to keep her eyes of you."

Nico snickered from her position by Honoka's bedroom window. "Or her hands."

A crack sounded throughout the house.

"Don't worry, Umi-chan. They're both responsible. Nothing indecent will happen." Eli and Nozomi entered the bedroom after reassuring a fuming Umi.

"You look good, Honoka-chan. Don't worry so much."

Kotori had done her best to ensure that Honoka looked as nice as possible, so that the only thing Honoka had to worry about was keeping the conversation during the date alive. The short black dress Honoka had on was complimented by the black tights she had under. She had a minimal amount of make-up on her face, just enough to bring out the bright color of her eyes. Kotori had debated applying lipstick to the ginger haired girl, but had decided against it, figuring a natural look would be better.

"What if I say something stupid and she stops liking me? What if she never liked me in the first place and this was just a dare?"

Maki twirled her hair on her spot on Honoka's bed. "She wouldn't put her career in jeopardy to go on a date with you if it was just a dare. Plus, saying stupid things is sort of a staple for you. If she doesn't like people who say stupid things, she wouldn't have liked you in the first place."

"What Maki is trying to say-" Eli paused to glare at Maki quickly, signalling her to either be positive or leave the room, to which Maki simply rolled her eyes. "-is that none of that will happen because you're very charming and Tsubasa-san clearly likes you a lot."

"Hey, there's a limo parked outside!" Nico called from the window. Honoka's phone rang, and the following conversation, mixed with Honoka's rapidly reddening face, made it very clear just whose limo that was.

"Okay, Tsubasa-chan. I'll be right out-" Honoka's phone got snatched away by Nozomi. "Actually, Kira-san, Honoka can't come outside right now, would you like to come inside our house to wait?... Good! We'll open the door right now!"

Honoka gaped while Nozomi handed back her phone. "Come on, everybody, let's get downstairs!"

* * *

Honoka was greeted by the sight of Umi intimidatingly questioning Tsubasa on everything the other girl had ever thought of Honoka. The leader of µ's dropped her head in her hands and sobbed.

Rin and Hanayo were sitting on Umi's left, arms crossed and frowns on their faces. Unfortunately, this only served to make them cuter than they usually are, a fact that was only amplified by the presence of Pana-chan peeking out from the front pocket of Rin's shirt. Nozomi, Kotori, Eli and Nico went to join them while Maki stayed with the sulking Honoka.

"Now, now, Umi-chan, we wouldn't want to scare away, Tsubasa-san would we?" Nozomi smiled at Tsubasa while taking a seat on Umi's right. Eli stood behind her and Nico joined the first years on Umi's left.

"You're right, Nozomi-chan. Honoka has every right to do whatever she would like." Umi's glare did not falter, and Tsubasa took this as a sign that Umi had very much  _not_  meant her words. " _However!_ "

Umi slammed her hands on the wooden table in front of her, cracking it in half cleanly. Honoka screamed and Tsubasa's eyes widened considerably.

"If  _anything_  happens to Honoka while she is on this date with you, A-RISE will need a new leader!"

Rin nodded fiercely, grabbing a glass cup from her side. "And if you don't think we can do it...!"

"Rin-chan, that's one of the  _real_  glass cups!"

Rin tightened her grip on the cup, shattering it completely, while Nico screamed at the blood flowing from Rin's hand. ("FUCK! JUST... FUCK!" Nico yelled.)

Umi seemed completely unconcerned by this development, even as Hanayo and Maki rushed to get bandages and tweezers to get the glass out of Rin's hand. ("Don't worry so much, you two! I'm fine!")

Eli's threatening smile had faltered considerably, but she continued on. "We'd very much like to keep relations between A-RISE and µ's as non-lethal as possible, so as long as Honoka returns home unharmed and as innocent as ever-" Honoka almost fainted from the intense blush she experienced at that. "-nothing bad will happen." ("Maki-chan, hurry up with the water!)

Nozomi raised her hands, groping the air threateningly, and she didn't even have to say anything to get the point across to Tsubasa. ("Rin, we told you like a thousand times! The second glass from the left! The left! Not the right!")

"Well, if that's all.." Umi stood up suddenly, and Tsubasa almost cried. "Honoka seems to be ready, so you two can go on. Enjoy your night!"

All of µ's smiled at Tsubasa, except for Honoka, who was still crying on the stairs, Hanayo and Maki, who were still trying to stop the bleeding from Rin's hand, and Nico, who had passed out immediately when she had seen the blood. So basically just Umi, Kotori, Eli and Nozomi.

* * *

Once Honoka and Tsubasa walked out of the house and closed the door behind them, everybody dropped their smiles.

"Let's go!"

Hanayo and Maki looked up from Rin's hand. "Are you serious?! Are we just going to let Rin's hand keep bleeding?!"

Nozomi snapped her fingers and the bleeding stopped. Maki's jaw dropped. "What?!"

Rin simply laughed. "I told you guys I would be fine!"

Maki still seemed to be in shock at Nozomi's magic, but Eli pulled her off the floor. "Come on, we have to get to the restaurant before they do!"

Nozomi picked up Nico bridal style as everyone in µ's rushed to the car. As Eli hopped into the driver's seat, she sent a quick prayer to whoever would listen that there would be parking spots at the restaurant Tsubasa was taking Honoka.

Meanwhile, in Tsubasa's limo, Honoka continuously apologized for her housemates' behavior. "I'm so sorry! I don't know what they think they're doing!"

Tsubasa appeared to just laugh it off, but anybody could see how much she was trembling. "It's fine, it's fine! They're just being good friends!"

Honoka sweatdropped. ' _Good friends don't threaten the girl their friend really likes while breaking glass cups on accident...!'_

* * *

Upon arrival at the restaurant, Tsubasa opened Honoka's car door, letting the ginger haired girl out of the limo. Honoka took one look at the restaurant they would be eating at and gaped. The first word that came to the mind of anybody who came to this place would have to be:  _expensive_. Honoka could tell just from looking at the walls of the building just how fancy and costly this establishment must be. A thought occurred to Honoka.

' _If the outside looks expensive, how does the inside look?!'_

Tsubasa gave Honoka a few seconds to take in how fancy the building was, before explaining how she was able to pay for a dinner here. "The manager is a big fan of A-RISE, so he let me bring you here on the house!"

Honoka gulped. Letting Tsubasa come to this place without paying anything would almost surely guarantee that the manager would get fired. That was a lot of devotion to A-RISE and Tsubasa.

' _How am I supposed to compete with all these other people who love A-RISE and Tsubasa-san as much as I do?_ '

Tsubasa pulled Honoka by her hand gently. "Come on, let's go inside!"

Honoka was too busy pondering how it was possible for someone else to love Tsubasa as much as she did to notice that Tsubasa was holding her hand.

* * *

Umi hissed from her seat in the car µ's had brought. "Look at her! She's holding Honoka's hand in public!" The bluenette unbuckled her seatbelt aggressively. "I'm going to go put an end to this date!"

Kotori thought fast in order to save her best friend's date, hugging Umi around her waist and praying this would work. "Umi-chan, please!" Umi realized her mistake the moment she looked down at Kotori. Large, golden puppy eyes were looking up at her, tears in their corners.

"A-ah, I suppose we can let them go on a little longer..."

Rin and Nico made a whipping motion in the back of the car, completed by the whipping sound Maki made from next to them.

Eli rolled her eyes at her kouhai's antics. "Come on, everybody, we have to get inside the restaurant so we can keep watching."

As they were about to enter, Rin paused, her pointer finger on her lips as she held the door open for the rest of the girls. "How... are we going to pay for this?"

Maki brushed past Rin, entering the building easily. "The manager is a friend of my dad, so he let me take you guys in for free."

Eli facepalmed. Whoever this manager was clearly did not care about his job at all.

"Should we really all sit together?" Everyone turned to look at Hanayo, who wilted at the attention. "I mean, wouldn't it be weird if Honoka suddenly saw all eight of us sitting at a table together?"

"Hanayo-chan is right, we should split up." Nozomi moved to stand next to Eli. "I'll go with Elicchi to sit away from everyone else."

"Rin will sit with Kayochin!" The cat girl jumped onto her childhood friend in excitement. "It will be just like a date, nya!" Hanayo blushed at the implication.

"Umi-chan and I should sit as far away from them as possible." Kotori figured Honoka would be able to notice her childhood friends the easiest, and secretly thought it would be disastrous to have a furious Umi anywhere near the couple.

"I guess that means Maki-chan will be graced with the presence of the great Nico-Nico-!"

Maki had already gone to take her seat, leaving a fuming Nico to follow.

* * *

"Well, at least  _they're_  having fun."

Eli looked up from the food she had ordered, and turned behind her to where Nozomi was looking. The sight of Rin and Hanayo giggling together over their dinner met the quarter Russian's eyes. She smiled warmly.

"I'm happy for them."

"Hai, hai." Nozomi smiled back. "It's interesting to see people who are able to be so honest about their feelings." Eli instantly understood what Nozomi was talking about.

"Well... I wouldn't mind... being more honest with my feelings." Eli bashfully let Nozomi know that she was willing to be more open about... well, about everything.

Nozomi's jaw dropped. Well this was unexpected. She had said that mostly to tease Eli, and a little to express her frustration at the situation. She knew Eli liked her, and she definitely knew she liked Eli. But the two of them were too closed off from the world to be open to each other. There were walls in place that had been taken down over the time that they knew each other, but there were still more walls that needed to be taken down. They were both too scared of the threat of loneliness and hurt that would inevitably come if the other ended relations with them.

She especially did not expect Eli to be the first to crack and admit something. The blonde was too awkward and too worried about coming off as cool and collected to be willing to initiate anything with Nozomi. When she noticed Eli starting to look uncomfortable, Nozomi realized she hadn't replied yet.

"Oh, Elicchi~ So forward~" Eli's preexisting blush deepened. "But maybe a little honesty would be nice between us."

"Well if that's the case... You look really pretty today."

Nozomi blushed despite herself. "And Elicchi looks pretty everyday~"

"N-Nozomi!"

* * *

Umi punched a hole in the wall next to her when she saw Tsubasa feed Honoka a piece of her meal.

"U-Umi-chan, calm down!"

"I will not sit down and watch while Honoka's honor is tarnished in front of me!" Umi got up from her seat, only to be pulled back down by a teary-eyed Kotori.

"Umi-chan, please! This is the date Honoka-chan's always wanted!"

Umi paused for a second. "But... she only saw Tsubasa-san about a year ago."

"You know what I mean, Umi-chan! Please!" Kotori begged as much as she could, making a mental note that Honoka  _definitely_  owed her something for all this groveling she was doing to save this date.

"Fine. But only if  _nothing_  else happens." Umi sat back down with a quick huff.

"Here, Umi-chan, have some of this!" Umi blushed deeply when she saw Kotori offering to feed her some food from her own plate. As much as she was embarrassed, Umi quickly ate the morsel from Kotori's fork, turning more red when Kotori giggled at how cute the bluenette was being.

When Umi put her face in her hands out of embarrassment, Kotori quickly pulled out her phone, half to quickly snap a picture of her crush being adorable, and half to quickly save Honoka's date.

* * *

Honoka paused in her retelling of the story of how µ's formed to check her phone when she got a text.

Tsubasa noticed when Honoka went silent. "Something wrong?"

Honoka quickly read the text and looked up. "Oh, it's nothing. Just... ah... excuse me, I have to go to the ladies' room."

"Of course!" Tsubasa knew something had to have happened. Nobody reads a text and then suddenly "has to use the ladies' room". She figured it had something to do with the rest of µ's that was hiding around the restaurant. The brunette met eyes with Nico and waved cheerfully. Nico spit out her soup.

Meanwhile, Honoka's jaw dropped when she saw Kotori waiting for her in the restroom. "What are you doing here?!"

"Well, all of us followed you and Tsubasa to the restaurant." Kotori looked at the floor in shame when Honoka let out a high-pitched noise of irritation.

The ginger haired leader put her hands on her head in frustration. "I appreciate the thought, but I'll be  _fine_. Tsubasa-chan isn't going to hurt me!"

"We know, but we're just worried about you! What would we do if something happened to you?!"

Honoka's eyes softened. "I know you guys are worried, but really! I'll be fine. Now, why did you call me in here?"

Kotori rubbed the back of her head embarrassedly. "Well... you're going to need to tell Tsubasa-san not to be so... flirty." Honoka's cheeks quickly reddened. "It's only because Umi-chan looks like she's going to attack Tsubasa if this keeps up!"

"But... I kinda liked it..." Kotori raised an eyebrow. "Fine. I'll ask her to keep her distance."

* * *

The rest of the date passed without incident, though Eli and Nozomi left the restaurant early to go get parfaits together ("What do they think they're doing?! They're not on an actual date!"), but both of them came back just in time to take the rest of µ's home.

When the two idol group leaders arrived at the µ's house, Tsubasa opened the car door for Honoka once more, and walked her to the front door of the house. Honoka's heart beat faster and faster as they neared the door.

' _Is this the moment where we're supposed to... kiss?!'_

Once they reached the front door, Tsubasa turned to Honoka. "So..."

"I... had a lot of fun tonight." Honoka smiled at Tsubasa, hands clasped in front of her. She sweatdropped when she saw all of µ's watching the scene from the front windows, noticing that Kotori and Nico had to physically restrain Umi from punching through the window and throwing Tsubasa out of Tokyo.

"Ah... of course! So did I!" Tsubasa cursed heavily in her head. Why was this so hard and awkward?!

"Well... good night." Just as Honoka turned to open the front door, Tsubasa had but one thought in her head. ' _Fuck it_.'

Honoka jumped slightly when she felt a soft pressure on her lips. Her eyes widened once she noticed that it was Tsubasa kissing her. On the lips. Kira Tsubasa. Her favorite idol. And her lips tasted slightly sweet, and were very, very soft.

She fainted again.

"Aww... She was so close to getting through the whole thing." Tsubasa said as she caught the other girl. The front door opened and Nozomi smiled at the leader of A-RISE.

The window next to the front door exploded as Umi smashed her way through, Kotori and Nico lying face down on the ground behind her. Tsubasa paled and gave Honoka over to Nozomi before sprinting down the front stairs, Umi hot on her trail.

* * *

**Omake:**

"So..."

Maki looked up from her food to look at Nico. "What is it?"

"Well... It's just that..." Nico looked around the restaurant. "Literally the rest of us are treating this like it's an actual date."

Maki followed Nico's gaze. There were her fellow first years, giggling together and occasionally touching each other's arms and hands far more than was necessary. The third years that weren't sitting with her were already on their way out, and had quickly stopped by her own table to say they were going to go get dessert from outside the restaurant. Kotori and Umi were the only two that debatedly did not look like they were on a date with each other, as it looked more to Maki like Kotori was clinging onto Umi's arm to stop the lyricist from getting up and punching Tsubasa in the face, but the close contact could be interpreted in other ways.

"...your point?"

Nico blushed. "You're going to make me say it out loud, aren't you?"

Maki looked at her senior in confusion. "Say what?"

The other girl sighed in exasperation. "Lemme just show you instead." She took a piece of food from her plate and held it up to Maki's mouth, red with embarrassment and looking away bashfully.

The redhead took one look at the food Nico was offering and made her decision. "Nope. Not happening."

Nico put the food back on her plate and huffed indignantly. "I should've just gotten you drunk instead..." She whispered to herself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing."


End file.
